Posted on 10/23/2005 8:11:54 PM PDT by Fun Bob
AO PAULO, Brazil, Oct 23 (Reuters) - From sprawling cities plagued by violence to the backwaters of the Amazon, Brazilians voted decisively on Sunday to keep gun sales legal in the country with the world's highest death toll from firearms.
About 64 percent rejected banning arms sales in the nationwide referendum, the electoral court said, with more than 90 percent of the expected 122 million votes counted.
Only 36 percent supported the ban, even though some 36,000 people were killed by guns last year in Latin America's largest country. Full results were expected on Monday.
"We didn't lose because Brazilians like guns. We lost because people don't have confidence in the government or the police," said Denis Mizne of anti-violence group Sou da Paz.
Many voters had expressed concern before the vote that a ban would leave them defenseless against heavily armed criminals. Public confidence is low in a police force widely seen as inefficient, abusive and corrupt.
"This referendum ... is not going to end violence," said Assis Augusto Pires, 60, who voted against the ban in Sao Paulo's wealthy Jardim Paulistano district, where high walls, electrified fences and private guards protect residents.
In Rio de Janeiro's Rocinha shantytown, scene of a raging gangland turf war, Carlos Eduardo Ferreira, a 40-year-old electrician, said he was voting for the ban.
"I am for the ban; I am for life. I've already seen kids hit by bullets here," he said.
Spotlighting the issue, a young girl was wounded by a stray bullet as police clashed with drug traffickers in Rio de Janeiro's Dende slum on Saturday night, police said.
In Minas Gerais state, a supporter of gun sales shot and wounded a ban backer during a bar argument on Friday.
The ban failed in all 26 states and the federal district of Brasilia. Rural areas rejected it overwhelmingly.
"This region is very isolated. If you don't have a gun here you don't have protection," said Igor Dedea, a logger in the rainforest state of Para.
INTENSE CAMPAIGNING
Campaigning had been intense.
Surveys done a month ago had shown most people favored the ban, but recent polls swung the other way. Groups favoring the ban accused gun makers of funding a big gun rights campaign and manipulating people's fears.
The result, which could influence other developing countries, is being watched by U.S. lobbying groups like the National Rifle Association.
If the referendum had passed, all sales of guns and ammunition in Brazil would have been halted, although public safety officers, private security firms and sport clubs would still have been able to buy them.
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and his wife Marisa Leticia both voted for the ban. "I think that for an ordinary person to have firearms is not going to give security, so I voted 'Yes,'" Lula said.
Many blamed the loss on a bribes scandal that has weakened Lula's government and hurt his popularity.
"This loss stems partly from the political crisis that broke in June," said Congressman Raul Jungmann, who voted for the ban.
Violence is rampant throughout Brazil, from the cities to the Amazon jungle and bloodshed and violence are a daily concern.
The United Nations ranks Brazil second behind only Venezuela in per capita gun deaths, with 22 for every 100,000 people. In absolute terms it leads the world, with more than 36,000 shot and killed last year, government figures show.
That is down from 39,000 in 2003, a drop pro-ban groups attribute to a government-sponsored gun buy-back program. In contract, the United States, with 296 million people to Brazil's 186 million, has about 30,000 gun deaths per year.
In Jardim Panorama, a rough Sao Paulo shantytown, lots of people voted "no." If gun sales were banned, low-paid police might dabble in arms trafficking, said Joao Rodrigues Magalhaes, a 40-year-old machine operator.
This article just drips with bias. Amazing.
ping
"We didn't lose because Brazilians like guns. We lost because people don't have confidence in the government or the police..."
That's what I like to hear, except the part about them not liking guns.
It is from al-Reuters. What do you expect? Sorry about the sourcing. It was the first full story I've seen on rejected ban referendum.
BTTT
Yup, no bias here.
Sixty four percent of the people rejected the ban, but Reuters could only find those supporting the ban to interview and quote in their article.
What a biased article!
well, I guess the Left in Brazil will now try to go through the courts or maybe the government will just pass a law anyway. :)
Some thoughts on guns and crime:
http://www.neoperspectives.com/gunsandcrime.htm
How absurdly biased.
But, what do you expect from al-Reuters, y'know?
Why don't they just ban criminals???
Wouldn't that be easier and more practical??
This is a very powerful statement... When the meyhem and civil disobidence happen because of some large disaster in this country, you will want a gun for self defense. New Orleans is a great example.
Someday when (not if) we are hit by 'the religion of peace' fanatics, you will want a gun.
Wasn't blaming you. Just an observation. I think part of the beauty of this story is the fact that the vote went as overwhelmingly as it did despite al-Reuters just KNOWING that the ignorant voters got it all wrong.
Schadenfreude, in other words.
I agree. Consider the source. And laugh at them.
Easy for someone who probably has layers of bodyguards, for herself and for her children, to say.
Let them eat cake!
Brazilians Reject Proposed Gun Ban
RENZO GOSTOLI
October 23, 2005 9:19 PM EDT
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil - Brazilians soundly rejected a proposal to ban the sale of guns in a national referendum Sunday, striking down the bid to stem one of the world's highest firearm murder rates following a campaign that drew parallels to the U.S. gun control debate.
Brazil has 100 million fewer citizens than the United States, but a staggering 25 percent more gun deaths at nearly 40,000 a year. While supporters argued that gun control was the best way to staunch the violence, opponents played on Brazilians' fears that the police can't protect them.
"I don't like people walking around armed on the street. But since all the bandits have guns, you need to have a gun at home," said taxi driver Mohammed Osei, who voted against the ban.
With more than 92 percent of the votes counted, 64 percent of Brazilians were opposed to the ban, while 36 percent backed it, said election officials, giving the 'no' position an insurmountable lead.
The proposal would have prohibited the sale of firearms and ammunition except for police, the military, some security guards, gun collectors and sports shooters. It would complement a 2003 disarmament law that sharply restricts who can legally purchase firearms and carry guns in the street.
That law, coupled with a government-sponsored gun buyback program, has reduced deaths from firearms by about 8 percent this year, the Health Ministry said.
But the referendum backfired for proponents. Earlier this year, support for the ban was running as high as 80 percent. But in the weeks before the referendum, both sides were granted free time to present their cases on prime-time TV, and the pro-gun lobby began to grow.
Analysts said the pro-gun lobby benefited from equal time on television in the final weeks of the campaign and that they cannily cashed in on Brazilian skepticism of the police.
"They ask the question: 'Do you feel protected and do you think the government is protecting you?' and the answer is a violent no," said political scientist David Fleischer of the University of Brasilia.
The combination of Brazil's high gun-death rate and the nature of the debate over the right to gun ownership has drawn parallels to the gun debate in the United States.
"The whole campaign (against the ban) was imported from the United States. They just translated a lot of material from the NRA," said Jessica Galeria, a Californian who researches gun violence with the Viva Rio think tank, referring to the National Rifle Association. "Now, a lot of Brazilians are insisting on their right to bear arms, they don't even have a pseudo right to bear arms. It's not in their Constitution."
NRA public affairs director Andrew Arulanandam called the proposal's defeat "a victory for freedom."
"It's a stunning defeat for the global gun control movement. They poured millions of dollars and millions more man hours trying to enact this gun ban and they failed. The aim of this gun ban movement was to use Brazil as the rallying point to enact gun bans in the United States. We're happy they were defeated," he said.
Some Brazilians said they resented the referendum because they feel the government is ducking its responsibility to keep the peace.
"It's immoral for the government to have this vote," said Pedro Ricardo, an army officer in Sao Paulo. "They're putting the responsibility on us, but ... the way to cut down on violence is to combat the drug trade and patrol our borders."
Supporters maintain the referendum is the only way to make Brazil safer.
"We have to change the violence in this country," said Paulo Leite, an engineer from the upscale Ipanema beach district.
About 39,000 people in Brazil are killed by guns each year, compared to about 30,000 people in the United States, although the U.S. population is about 100 million more than Brazil's, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
According to UNESCO, Brazil ranks second in deaths by guns, with 21.72 per 100,000 people a year. Venezuela has 34.3 gun deaths per 100,000.
But in shantytowns like Vila do Joao, the rate rises to around 150 per 100,000. And for males between 17 and 24, the death rate is closer to 250 per 100,000.
--- Associated Press Writer Michael Astor contributed to this report.
Copyright 2005 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
IANSA’s work has been supported by funders including the Governments of UK, Belgium, Sweden and Norway, as well as the Ford Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, Compton Foundation, Ploughshares Fund, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Open Society Institute, Samuel Rubin Foundation and Christian Aid.
Sorry, I was mistaken, I guess they didn't run that story, after all.
This sounds oddly familiar.
Not quite:
In Jardim Panorama, a rough Sao Paulo shantytown, lots of people voted "no." If gun sales were banned, low-paid police might dabble in arms trafficking, said Joao Rodrigues Magalhaes, a 40-year-old machine operator.
That's NO, in fact I wonder how you say HELL NO, in Portuguese? Ah here it is:
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